Glenn Close, Patti LuPone, et al. Tribute Barbara Cook at Kennedy Center Honors

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts this year honors singer Barbara Cook, singer and songwriter Neil Diamond, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, saxophonist and composer Sonny Rollins, and actress Meryl Streep as their 2011 honorees. The special broadcast of the gala will air on December 27 on CBS. 

According to published reports the portion of the evening that was deciated to Cook featured performances by stage favorites such as: Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald, Glenn Close,  Rebecca Luker, Kelli O'Hara, Sutton Foster and Laura Osnes. Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick opened the segment, speaking about Cook's Cafe Carlyle performances in New York. Parker said: "I don't think Matthew at the time knew what kind of special memory he was creating for us."

After a film montage that included highlights from Cook's career, Close spoke about the Broadway legend: "I think we have the biggest respect for her because she really has survived, survived and prevailed." Close then performed FOLLIES anthem, 'Losing My Mind.'

President Obama said of Cook: 'Barbara Cook has been said to have the most magnificent voice in popular music. But she was born into a family that didn't know the first thing about singing. Growing up, while the other kids in her neighborhood were out playing hide and seek, Barbara would be inside listening to opera on the radio. By the time she was 23, Barbara was starring in her first Broadway show, and she went on to win a Tony for her performance as the original "Marian the Librarian" in "The Music Man."

But success didn't come without pain, and she faced more than her share of challenges before a show-stopping concert at Carnegie Hall in 1975 catapulted her back into the spotlight. Barbara's greatest strength has always been her ability to put her own feelings and experiences into her songs. As she says, "If I sing about emotion, and you say, yes, I've felt that, too, then it brings us together, even if it's just for a little while."

These days, Barbara has been through enough to sing just about anything. So now she teaches up-and-coming singers to do the same. The lesson always starts with "Be yourself," a piece of advice that she has always taken to heart. Maybe that's what has kept her so young. And Barbara says that some days she feels like she is 30, and tonight you look like you're 30. (Laughter.) Some days she feels like she's 12, although her knee apparently does not agree. (Laughter.)

All we know is that we've never heard a voice like hers, so tonight we Barbara -- honor Barbara Cook.'

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/WM Photos